David Berliner

A Nation At Risk. This foreboding phrase entered the nation's consciousness in 1983 when a report of the same name exposed a "crisis" in the U.S. educational system. Commissioned by the Reagan administration, this report asserted that our nation's schools had begun to fail - indeed, their achievements had recently fallen and now lagged behind those of other competitor nations - and as a result our country, was in danger of losing its leadership in science, commerce and industry. Moreover, these and other frightening charges about the supposed "shortcomings" of the nation's schools were repeated in scores of documents sponsored by government and industry and gleefully repeated by the press.

In "The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud and the Attack on America's Public Schools," Dr. David Berliner and his co-author Bruce Biddle, argue a persuasive and resounding "NO". With facts, figures and good old-fashioned outrage, the book crushes the myths that allow a nation to engulf itself in a crisis that does not exist. Berliner does not deny that there are problems in today's educational system. But he insists that if we look at the real evidence, we learn that many of the charges levied against America's schools are not true, and those charges fail to address the real dilemmas that American educators face.

According to Berliner, there are three major problems plaguing our educational system: our traditional willingness to tolerate huge differences in funding for public schools (poorer neighborhoods still have poorer schools); the dilemmas created by our radically expanding educational system; and the fact that more disadvantaged children are entering our nation's schools.

Berliner is Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, and Psychology in Education at Arizona State University. He received his BA in Psychology from UCLA and his Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Stanford in 1968. He has authored several textbooks and hundreds of articles in professional journals. In 1994, he received the National Education Association's highest honor, the "Friend of Education Award".

Using hard facts to expose and attack the myths of ailing test scores, excessive spending, unqualified teachers and immoral textbooks, he identifies the problems that really do plague schools and offers real solutions. As Berliner sees it, America has wasted time ignoring the real challenges of our diverse society, and now must pass the "ultimate test". "The ultimate test of society is not how well it takes care of its rich and powerful, but how well it attends to the needs of its poorest and weakest citizens". Dr. Berliner arms us with information needed to pass this test, if only our nation chooses to do its homework.